Women's Fitness Magazines

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Fitness Magazines

Women’s fitness magazines are supposed to inform females how to get fit and be healthy; however, they continuously send messages to women that they have to fit certain standards of flawless skin, sex appeal, and dangerously low amounts of body fat. Women in their twenties and thirties are feeling the pressure from society to conform to body images seen in magazines, such as Heidi Klum who is 5’9.5’’and 119lb, Carmen Kass who is 5’10.5’’ and 114lb, and Elsa Benitez who is 6’ and 125lb (Magazine Dimensions 153, 162) (supermodelguide.com). (Are these the healthy bodies that we should be trying to obtain?) Fitness Magazines need to revamp themselves and give women healthy, realistic images and informative articles so they can help women become healthy.

The Department of Medical Oncology at the University of Newcastle states in its online medical dictionary that health is “the state of being hale, sound, or whole, in body, mind, or soul; especially the state of being free from physical disease or pain.” Fitness is defined in the medical dictionary as one’s “well-being” or “A set of attributes, primarily respiratory and cardiovascular, relating to ability to perform tasks requiring expenditure of energy.” One’s cholesterol, body fat, blood pressure, endurance, etc. are all part of fitness and health. A healthy average daily cholesterol intake should be less than 300 milligrams (“Cholesterol” 1). The healthy range of body fat for women ages 18-39 is about 21 to 32 % (shapeup.org 1), and the healthy values for body mass index (BMI) are from 18.5 to 24.9 (“Obesity and Overweight” 1). The average blood pressure is 120/ 80 mm Hg (detecting-hypertension.com 1). These figures are what Americans should strive to obt...

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...ications Inc. 2000.

Schillinger, Dawn. “Boost Your Students’ Self-Esteem”. American Fitness Jan/Feb 2002. Vol. 20. Issue 1. 40- 44.

Shape November 2002. Ed. Barbara Harris. Weider Publications Inc., 2002.

Sherman, Alexa Joy. “The Ultimate Guide to AB Training.” Shape November 2002:84.

“Supermodelguide.com: Supermodels & Model-Actress Bios.” The Insider’s Guide to Supermodels and Modeling. 2002 <http://www.supermodelguide.com/supermodels/carmen.html.>. <http://www.supermodelguide.com/supermodels /elsa.html.>. <http://www.supermodelguide.com/supermodels/heidi.html.>.

“Well-being.” Dictionary.com 2000. The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language. <http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=wellbeing.>.

“Women in advertisements are getting younger, thinner, and more racially diverse.” Marketing to Women. June 2002. EMP Communications, 2002

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